The incident happened as the girl was shopping at a suburban Portland Target store. The girl did not notice that Patrick Buono was taking sneaky pictures of — presumably — her underwear, but another woman in the store caught him in the act and reported him to police.
Oregon — like many states — does not have a law specifically prohibiting what is widely known as “upskirting,” but prosecutors had charged him with invasion of privacy and attempting to encourage child sex abuse.
Circuit Judge Eric Butterfield, however, didn’t agree that those laws applied because the girl wasn't nude and the photo wasn't clearly sexually explicit.
As a result, Butterfield let him go adding that Buono “feels real bad about it too, by the way.”
He did call Buono “a sick man” as he delivered his ruling.
